The whole reason we went to Yogya was to take a week-long Bahasa Indonesia course. It was a 6-hour/day class for five days, working one-on-one with a rotating roster of teachers. The lessons were basic, covering things like food, directions, time and dates. It was interesting because the teachers spoke only in Indonesian, helping you infer information from context and immersion. I thought it was great. B, on the other hand, got tired of “playing charades” trying to guess what the teacher was trying to tell him. We both still got a lot out of it, but I think I enjoyed it a bit more!

LittleB also took a one-hour class each morning, during which, from what I can tell, he mostly drew pictures of gameboy games. Not really sure how that helped him learn the language, but hey, I guess they work with what you give them. For the rest of the day, both kids spent the remaining hours at the hotel with a babysitter we hired. She was very sweet, but just basically let the kids play gameboy all day (do you see a theme here?) and do a bit of swimming. Then we would all meet up for a quick lunch and again after class ended in the afternoon.

Throughout the week, we struggled to find food for the kids (as usual). In the area, we managed to find a decent pizza place that LittleB could eat at and a bunch of other places where he couldn’t (and in fact, just touching the table at the vegetarian restaurant gave him hives… stupid all-soy vegetarian food). By mid-week we gave up and just started ordering a few pizzas each day for their lunch and dinner. The rest of us enjoyed some great thai food, some tasty waroeng food, and a catered luncheon on Thursday at the school.

The breakfast at the hotel, however, was terrible. Almost inedible. We started literally just bringing food with us to eat at their table.

Otherwise, we didn’t have a lot of time to see much more of the city. B took a silver smithing course on Wednesday night, and I visited Malioboro street with my friend on Thursday. That’s a great tourist area filled with shops and street vendors, and it’s the place to go if you want to buy batik. Unfortunately, batik clothes are not made for ladies of our stature, so I didn’t end up buying anything.

On Friday, we took the kids with us to see The Hobbit in 3D. I thought they might be scared, but J totally loved it (well, the first half before she fell asleep), and LittleB seemed scared but said it was awesome afterwards. I’m sure he’ll only have nightmares for a few years. It builds character, right?

We flew home on Saturday, and now it’s back to regular life for a while!

“Mondo Pizza – it’s better than tasty!” (actual tagline)

Even though our hotel was a bit past its prime (and the food was atrocious), it did have some charm. This was our front porch.

With a new friend, waiting for a taxi at the hotel.

There was a group luncheon for all the students on Thursday. The food was fantastic!

Maliboro street. This is tourist area with lots of shops and street vendors. Very fun!